‘Red Cliff’ falls in second frame

'The Good the Bad' pummels John Woo film

Mega-budget Chinese actioner “Red Cliff” fell steeply in its second frame in those Asian territories where it faced fresh competition and held up well in its China home. Cumulative total now exceeds $45 million.

China Film Group reported that pic had surpassed the RMB200 million ($29.2 million) cumulative landmark by the end of the second weekend on release, but did not specify comparable weekend data. (In the pic’s four-day opening weekend CFG said that pic scored $15.8 million from a major, wide-release.)

For South Korea, producer Lion Rock reported second weekend gross of $1.46 million from 302 screens. That is a 74% drop compared with opening weekend when it scored $5.6 million, according to distribber Showbox.

Pic was pummeled by the stupendous opening of CJ Entertainment’s “The Good, The Bad, The Weird,” which enjoyed an estimated 2.2 million admissions (for an approximate gross of $15.4 million) over the four day weekend period.

Lion Rock reports a cume after 11 days of $7.6 million. Showbox sources in Korea told Daily Variety that cume had hit 1.27 million admissions – which would point to a possibly higher cume edging $8.9 million.

In Hong Kong the Mei Ah/Edko-released Chinese historical actioner suffered a 57% drop, behind a super-heroic perf from “The Dark Knight. The Woo-helmed “Cliff” took HK$4.54 million ($571,000) from 35 locations and holds a cume of $2.45 million after 11 days. Screen average over the weekend was a still strong $16,300.

For Taiwan, where “Cliff” is handled by Fox International on behalf of CMC, Lion Rock reported weekend activity of $600,000 for a cume of $3.8 million. Again that makes producer figures on the conservative side of numbers communicated locally. CMC told Variety that pic had claimed a further NT$22 million ($725,000) on Saturday and Sunday. That lifted the cumulative total to NT$140 million ($4.61 million.)

In Thailand, where “Cliff” is handled by Sahamongkol, it scored $230,000 off 59 screens on its second weekend, for a cume of $770,000.

In Singapore, where it is handled by Scorpio East, it claimed $403,000 over the four day weekend. That compared with a previously reported $756,000 in a three days plus preview total in the opening session. Cume in Singapore according to Lion Rock is $1.4 million through Sunday.

Pic opened in Malaysia, through Golden Screen, with a $203,000 total from 43 screens.